IPL spot fixing: State police arrests 10 bookies from Kolkata

Kolkata, May 23 (ANI): Kolkata Police arrest ten bookies on Thursday from Kolkata, according to media reports. They will now be produced in the Sealdah court today.

Earlier in the day, Mumbai Police reached Chennai on Thursday with the objective of questioning Chennai Super Kings 'principal' Gurunath Meiyappan, the son-in-law of team owner and Board of Control for Cricket in India president N Srinivasan, in connection with the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal.

Meiyappan's name is figuring prominently in the interrogation of all those arrested so far, including Bollywood and television actor Vindoo Dara Singh.

Gurunath Meiyappan's questioning would revolve around his links with Vindoo and if he was involved in betting or was passing inside information about matches.

"Based on the outcome of the questioning, we will decide whether his actions fall under the domain of impropriety or invite legal action," the officer said yesterday.

Vindoo, interrogators said, has revealed that he was in touch with Gurunath during the ongoing T20 season - a fact corroborated by his call records. Police are trying to find out what the two spoke about.

Vindoo, allegedly linked to several bookies and cricketers, told the police he was introduced to Gurunath four-five years ago in Chennai by Anand Saxena, a Delhi-based bookmaker, and became friends with him. He claimed he went to Chennai to watch a match on Gurunath's invitation.

The small-time actor has revealed that he made crores from betting on T20 matches, and his take-home from this season was Rs. 17 lakh.

In the Capital, betting continues unabated despite police heat on bookies, Delhi cops said. They also hinted at the possibility of a similar scandal in the Bangladesh Premier League, based on the questioning of arrested bookie Sunil Bhatia.

On Chandila's involvement in the racket, an officer said, "Chandila received Rs. 25 lakh for the May 5 match from one set of bookies, Rs. 15 lakh for the May 17 match from another and Rs. 9 lakh from a third set of bookies. Of this, he had to return Rs. 20 lakh for the first match since he forgot to give the pre-decided signal before bowling." (ANI with inputs)

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